Guyana - Guyana A culturally-Caribbean country in northern...

Guyana
A culturally-Caribbean country in northern
South America. One of only four non-Spanish speaking territories in South America (the others
being Brazil, French Guiana, and Suriname). A British colony until 1966, this country's culture is
more like that of the West Indies than of South America. It is 43% East Indian, 30% Afro-
Guyanese, 16.7% mixed heritage, and 10% Amerindian. There is also a small Portuguese
population in Guyana (which New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira is descended from)
and a Chinese population that, though tiny, has had a massive influence on Guyanese cuisine (as
a result, Guyana has its own distinctive version of chow mein).
Most non-West Indians know Guyana for being the place where American pastor Jim Jones and
the members of the People's Temple from California drank cyanide poisoned Kool-Aid in 1978.
It should be noted, however, that average Guyanese civilians had no idea that the Jonestown
settlement was even there. The People's Temple had moved to Guyana from California in order
to evade investigation by the US government. The Guyanese dictator at the time, Forbes
Burnham, allowed Jones and his followers to quietly form their settlement, but again, the average
Guyanese civilian was unaware of this until after the mass suicide made headlines.
Over the years, there has been much racial tension between the Indo-Guyanese (descendants of
indentured servants brought by the British from India) and the Afro-Guyanese descendants of
African slaves (although this tension has lessened somewhat in recent years), with most of the
Indo-Guyanese voting for the People's Progressive Party and most of the Afro-Guyanese voting
for the People's National Congress. In the 1960's and 70's, Guyana was ruled by the authoritarian